Self-threading loom shuttles



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Nov. 15, 1955 w. J. GOSSELIN SELF-THREADING LOOM SHUTTLES Filed Jan. 5, 1953 1a 9 {Pl A7 4 ga t; CW-

United States Patent SELF-THREADING LOOM SHUTTLES Wilfrid J. Gosselin, Methuen, Mass., assignor to US Bobbin & Shuttle Company, Lawrence, Mass., a corporation of Rhode Island Application January 5, 1953, Serial No. 329,590

4 Claims. (Cl. 139-223) This invention pertains to weaving shuttles, and more especially to an improved threading block for a shuttle of the self-threading type. i

In looms of the automatic replenishing type, a new supply of filling is furnished when that previouslyin use has reached a predetermined degree of exhaustion. In one type of such replenishing loom the depleted filling carrier or bobbin in the shuttle is replaced by one carrying a working supply of filling during the replenishing operation, and in such type of replenishing loom the end of thread extending from the fresh filling carrier is secured at a fixed point, generally on a part of the hopper from which the fresh supply of filling is taken by the replenishing mechanism.

The shuttle is provided at one end with a yarn or thread passage leading forwardly from the bobbin chamber and with a yarn delivery eye at one side, and in order that the yarn on the fresh filling carrier or bobbin may automatically enter the delivery eye, the shuttle has a longitudinally extending slot leading down into the yarn passage and guide elements so devised that the yarn, extending from the fresh bobbin to said fixed part, enters said slot on the first pick of the shuttle away from the hopper and drops into the yarn passage, and, as the shuttle begins its return flight, enters the delivery eye. However, in order that the yarn may, with certainty, enter the slot on the first pick it is necessary that the slot be of a shape and so little obstructed that the yarn (even though under very slight tension) will drop through the slot and into the thread passage in the extremely short time interval during which the shuttle is making its first pick. Since the slot remains open, there is always the possibility that the yarn, in ballooning from the tip of the bobbin during subsequent picks, may escape through the slot so that the shuttle becomes unthreaded and the yarn broken. Such an occurrence is especially likely to happen in a shuttle unprovided with a tension (other than a brush' or fur within the bobbin chamber), which is a customary arrangement in the weaving of cotton, worsted and woolen.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a shuttle having the usual bobbin chamber, delivery eye, yarn passage and threading slot, and with effective means for trapping a yarn, once properly placed in the thread passage, so that it can not accidentally escape. A further object is to provide a threading block, for use in a shuttle having a yarn passage and a threading slot, so devised as to permit ready entry of a yarn into the passage even though the yarn be under very slight tension, but with yarn-trapping means so arranged as to prevent yarn, ballooning. off ofv the bobbin tip, from moving in a direction such as to escape through the threading slot. A further object is to provide a threading block having a yarn guiding passage and a yarn trapping scroll coaxial with the yarn guiding passage and open from end to end, the wind of the scroll being of opposite hand from that of the yarn on the bobbin with which the shuttle is to be used so that the yarn cannot readily escape from the scroll. A further object is to provide a threading block having a yarn-guiding passage and a thread-trapping scroll within its rear portionand with means operative to prevent loops of yarn, formed either at the front or rear of the block, from dropping below the free edge of the scroll and thus escaping from the scroll. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed-out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. l is a fragmentary plan view of a weaving shuttle, to full size, showing the improved threading block of the present invention installed in the end portion of the shuttle body but omitting the usual bobbin-holding jaws;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation, to larger scale, of the thread ing block of the present invention removed from the shuttle;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the threading block removed from the shuttle, and to larger scale than Fig. 2, and a portion of the bobbin; a

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the threading block shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the threading block, substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 1 and showing the tip of the bobbin; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the scroll separate from the block proper.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates one end portion of a weaving shuttle of generally conventional type having the metal tip 2 at its end, hereafter referred to as its forward end, and having the bobbin chamber 3 provided with the usual jaws (not shown) for holding the bobbin 4 with its axis substantially horizontal and extending longitudinally of the shuttle. The bobbin 4 carries the yarn package P of yarn Y which, as here illustrated, is wound on the bobbin with a righthand wind.

Forwardly of the bobbin chamber 3 the shuttle is provided with a recess 5 (Fig. 1) which extends longitudinally of the forward portion of the shuttle body and which communicates at its forward end with the side delivery eye E. Within the recess 5 there is arranged the threading block B comprising the thread-directing portion 6 having the thread guiding edge 7 which guides the thread during the threading operation toward the delivery eye E. The block proper is, as here illustrated, a unitary casting and is shaped to provide the horizontally spaced side walls W and W (Figs. 2 and 3) defining between them the longitudinally extending thread passage 8 having the floor 9 (Fig. 5). Forwardly of the longitudinal thread passage the wood of the shuttle body is formed with an inclined thread leading groove G (Fig. 1) which lies substantially in the direction of the thread extending from a fixed point of the hopper to the shuttle when the lay of the loom is in its replenishing position and the shuttle is ready to make its first pick away from the hopper.

At a point approximately midway between the ends of the thread passage 8 of the blockthe latter is provided with a transversely extending rib 10 (Fig. 5) whose rounded upper edge constitutes a thread-supporting element. A similar. thread-supporting rib 10 .is provided at the rear end of the passage. Forwardly of the rib 10, the floor is elevated, as shown at 11 (Fig. 5.), andat the forward end of the threadvpassage 8 there is another thread-supporting element formed by the rounded upper surface of a transversely extending rib 12 integral with the block. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the broken line XX indicates the position of the axis of the bobbin 4 when properly arranged within the bobbin chamber 3, and it will be noted that the rear portion 9 of the floor of the threading passage is substantially below the horizontal Patented Nov. 15, 1955 plane of this axis and that the thread-supporting ribs and 10 rise to a level above that of the rear part of the floor 9.

The block proper is provided with a narrow, vertical slot extending forwardly from its rear end and adjacent to the inner surface of the wall W of the thread passage 8, and in this slot is fixedly arranged the leg member 13 (Fig. 6) of a scroll device S which constitutes the threadtrapping element of the threading block. While the block B will usually be a metal casting, the scroll device S is preferably of sheet material, for example, steel. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the scroll device has a foot portion 14 substantially perpendicular to its leg portion 13, and the bottom of the block B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, is provided with a recess 15 which receives the foot 14 of the scroll device. The slot in the block which receives the leg of the scroll device S is of a width such that the leg is held snugly and firmly in position when once installed in the slot, and the provision of the foot 14 beneath the block and which rests upon the bottom of the recess 5 in the shuttle body further insures that the scroll device will not loosen during use or by any chance escape from the block.

The scroll proper, designated by the numeral 16, is integral with the upper part of the leg 13 and is bent through a substantially circular arc of approximately 270 and with its free edge 17 substantially in the vertical plane of the axis of the bobbin, the scroll being tangent to the inner surface of the wall W of the block but being of such an outside diameter that it does not contact the opposite wall W thereby leaving the narrow space 18 between it and the inner surface of said wall W which constitutes the threading slot. The free edge 17 of the scroll is substantially straight (Figs. 3 and 6); substantially parallel to the axis of the thread passage (Fig. 3); and of a length less than the width of the leg portion 13; said edge 17 being spaced from the rear portion 9 of the floor of the thread passage a distance such as to permit free passage of a thread between the floor and the free end of the scroll, but this free edge of the scroll is located below the horizontal line XX, with the undersurface of the scroll near its free edge 17 slightly below a plane tangent to the thread-supporting upper surfaces of the ribs 10 and 10. As here illustrated the plane defined by the thread-supporting upper surfaces of the ribs 10 and 10 is approximately midway between the upper and lower surfaces of the scroll at the edge 17. In Fig. 2 the character K indicates the position of the axis of the bobbin with reference to the scroll 16, and it will be noted that the scroll is substantially coaxial with the bobbin. scroll is freely open at its opposite ends and throughout its entire length so that a thread, extending forwardly from the bobbin and through the scroll, is not deflected laterally. As inay be noted by reference to Figs. 1, 3 and S, the scroll occupies the rear portion of the thread passage, being rear-ward of the transverse thread-support ing rib 10.

Assuming that the bobbin has been properly placed within the bobbin chamber 3 and is held firmly in position by the shuttle jaws, and that the thread Y from this bobbin extends to a fixed part adjacent the supply hopper, and that the shuttle starts to make its first pick to the "left, as viewed in Fig. 1, the yarn Y drops into the groove G and by the latter is directed so as to enter the threading slot 18. This threading slot is freely open vertically from its flaring top to its junction with the threadpassage 8 so that the yarn may freely drop down through this slots 18 until it lies in the lower part of the thread passage. As the shuttle starts its pick'in the opposite direction, the yarn'which is engaged in'the left-hand selvage, as referred to in Fig. 1, is tensioned to some extent by the motion of the shuttle, and follows down the outer curved surface of the scroll until it .snaps down beneath the lower free edge 17 of the scroll, ,in doing so being forced to dip down between the ribs 10 and 10 Thereafter, during The succeeding picks, the yarn extends forwardly from the bobbin through the scroll and through the forward portion of the yarn passage and out through the delivery eye. Since the wind of the scroll 16 is opposite to the wind of the thread on the bobbin, it is evident that, as the thread unwinds from the bobbin, it will balloon in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, so that it will follow around the interior of the scroll and will have no opportunity to escape beneath the free edge 17 of the scroll and thence out through the slot 18, particularly because of the ribs 10, 10 and 12 which prevent the yarn from dropping to a level below the edge 17 of the scroll. Even though the yarn becomes slack at the end of the pick in one direction or the other and by inertia is thrown forwardly or rearwardly relatively to the block in the form of a loop, there is no chance for the yarn to drop down low enough in the yarn passage to escape below the edge 17 of the scroll. It will be understood that if the yarn on the yarn package is to be of the opposite wind, then a block similar to that herein illustrated, but with a scroll of opposite wind, will be employed.

While a desirable embodiment of the invention has been illustrated by way of example, it is to be understood that the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. In combination in a self-threading loom shuttle having a bobbin chamber for the reception of a bobbin having yarn wound thereon, the shuttle having a side delivery eye and a recess forwardly of the bobbin chamber, a threading block within the recess, said block having therein a longitudinal thread passage communicating with the bobbin chamber at its rear end and with a delivery eye at its forward end, the floor of the rear portion of said passage being below the horizontal plane of the axis of a bobbin positioned within the bobbin chamber, and a scroll, freely open from end to end, carried by the block and through which the yarn passes on its way from the bobbin to the delivery eye, the scroll being substantially coaxial with a bobbin positioned within the bobbin chamber, the outer surface of the scroll being spaced from one side wall of the thread passage thereby providing a threading slot, the free edge of the scroll being substantailly straight and parallel to the axis of the thread passage and spaced above the floor of the rear portion of the passage a distance such as to permit the thread to pass freely between said edge and the floor, the wind of the scroll being of the opposite hand as compared with the wind of the yarn on the bobbin with which the shuttle is to be used, and two transversely extending yarn supporting elements located respectively adjacent to but spaced from the rear end of the free edge of the scroll, and adjacent to but spaced from the front end of the free edge of the scroll, said yarn supporting elements being below the horizontal plane of the axis of the bobbin but above the outer surface of the free edge portion of the scroll, thereby preventing a loop of yarn, thrown forwardly at the rear of the block, from escaping from the scroll.

2. In combination in a self-threading loom shuttle according to claim 1, a second transverse yarn supporting element located adjacent to but spaced from the front end of the substantially straight free edge of the scroll, said second yarn supporting element being below the horizontal'plane of the axis of the bobbin but above the outer surface of the free end portion of the scroll.

3. In combination in a self-threading loom shuttle according to claim 2, wherein the yarn supporting elements are ribs, integral with the block, and so located that, at times, the yarn ballooning from the tip of the bobbin engages one or the other of said ribs, one of the ribs being located immediately forward of the free edge of the scroll and the other being located immediately to the rear of the free edge of the scroll, the highest points of the ribs being tangent to a plane which is slightly above the outer surface of the free end portion of the scroll.

4. A threading block for use in a self-threading loom shuttle, the block having therein a longitudinally extending thread passage defined by spaced side walls and a floor, a scroll within the passage, the scroll being freely open from end to end to allow thread to pass through it without lateral deflection, the scroll being substantially tangent to one of said side walls but being spaced from the other side wall to provide a threading slot, the free end of the scroll being substantially straight and parallel to the axis of the thread passage and spaced from the floor of the passage to allow a thread, moving downwardly in the threading slot, to pass said free edge and snap upwardly into the scroll, the free edge of the scroll being substantially in the vertical plane of the axis of a bobbin arranged in operative relation to the threading block, the

opposite ends of the free, substantially straight edge of References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,573,227 Davis Feb. 16, 1926 1,581,585 Lussier Apr. 20, 1926 1,649,618 Shaw Nov. 15, 1927 1,684,781 Ricard Sept. 18, 1928 2,205,612 Wood June 25, 1940 2,607,371 Wood Aug. 19, 1952 

